NK Osijek

Osijek

Full name	Nogometni klub Osijek
Nickname(s)	Bijelo-plavi (The White-blues)
Founded	27 February 1947 (1947-02-27)
Ground	Stadion Gradski vrt
Ground Capacity	22,050
Chairman	Miroslav Kos
Manager	Zoran Zekić
League	Croatian First League
2014–15	8th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

NK Osijek is a football club from Osijek in eastern Croatia. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with most seasons in the Yugoslav First League, and, after the independence of Croatia in 1992, it is part of the four clubs that were never relegated from the Croatian First League, the others being Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split and Rijeka.

History

NK Osijek's early roots are found in club called NK Udarnik that was formed in 1945 under FPR Yugoslavia's new communist authorities after the dissolution of HŠK Slavija. Slavija was founded in 1916 and competed in the national league of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1923 and 1940.

In 1946, NK Udarnik and another local club NK Jedinstvo, merged to form a new entity – NK Slavonija. On 2 February 1947, NK Slavonija merged with NK Bratstvo, again creating a new club, NK Proleter, a date that marks the formation of the present club NK Osijek. The club's colours were red and blue, which in the 1970s were changed to white and blue.

The club entered the First Division for the first time in 1953. On 1 September 1962, NK Proleter merged with the Boxing and Athletic Club Mladost and formed a multi-sport organisation called Sportsko društvo Slavonija (Slavonija Sporting Society). The football club started competing under the name NK Slavonija.

Until the 1980s, the club was in the Second Division. In 1973, Osijek played Zagreb in a play-off for promotion to the First Division. In the second leg in Zagreb, Osijek lost on penalties in front of a record 64,000 attendance. In 1977, the club were promoted to the top division, where with the exception of one season, they remained until the collapse of Yugoslavia. Their best league position was sixth place in 1984.^[1]

In 1992, in the first season of the new Croatian league, Prva HNL, Osijek finished third. The next two seasons saw weaker results, but in 1994–95, Osijek's Robert Spehar was the league's top scorer as the club finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. They were eliminated in the first round by Slovan Bratislava, and failed to qualify for Europe again for the next two seasons, before they again finished third, in the 1997–98 season. They were eliminated from the UEFA Cup on away goals by Anderlecht, after winning 3–1 at home and losing 2–0 in Brussels. The same season, led by Jurica Vranjes, Osijek won their first national trophy, the Croatian Cup, beating Cibalia in the final after extra time. Cibalia led 1–0 until Mitu equalized in injury time, and in extra-time Davor Lasić scored a golden goal to win the cup for Osijek. The following season, Osijek lost 6–1 on aggregate to West Ham United in the UEFA Cup and finished in the third place in the league.

In the 2000–01 UEFA Cup, Osijek beat the Danish club Brøndby (2–1 on aggregate) and Rapid Wien (4–1 on aggregate) but were eliminated by Slavia Prague in the third round, when they won 2–0 but were beaten 5–1 in Prague. In 2000, Osijek were the Croatian league's autumn champions, but finished the championship in third place. They equaled their best league finish in the 2007–08 season, finishing third for the sixth time.

The club's most famous former player is Croatia's Davor Šuker, who won the Golden Boot at the 1998 World Cup.

First-team squad

As of 6 January 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Zvonimir Mikulić 3 DF Antonio Pavić 4 MF Hrvoje Kurtović 5 DF Sandro Tsveiba 6 DF Ivica Džolan 7 MF Goran Roce 8 MF Josip Špoljarić 9 FW Nikola Mandić 12 GK Borna Žitnjak 13 GK Marko Malenica 15 DF Zoran Arsenić 16 MF Tomislav Radotić

No. Position Player 18 FW Tomislav Štrkalj 19 MF Zoran Lesjak 20 MF Luka Mihaljević 21 MF Mile Škorić 22 MF Tomislav Šorša 23 FW Alen Grgić 24 MF Tomislav Šarić 26 DF Nikola Matas 27 MF Tomislav Čuljak 28 DF Andrej Lukić TBA MF Benedik Mioč TBA MF Mihael Pongračić

Out on loan

As of 6 January 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player TBA DF Andrej Šimunec (on loan at Višnjevac) TBA MF Matej Bekavac (on loan at Višnjevac) TBA MF Matija Čakalić (on loan at Višnjevac)

Youth academy

NK Osijek Academy are the youth team of NK Osijek. There are a total of six age categories within the academy, the oldest being the Junior Team and youngest being the Limači Team. Among notable academy graduates are Dino Špehar and Domagoj Vida.

Stadium

NK Osijek host domestic matches at Stadion Gradski vrt which has a capacity of 22,050.

Supporters

The team's fans are known as Kohorta.

Rivalries

Slavonian derby match between the two largest Croatia Football Club from eastern Croatia, Osijek and Cibalia. Each new match these two great rivals, means a great match on the field, but also in the stands where the overruling of Kohorta from Osijek and Ultrasi from Vinkovci.

Kit manufacturers

Honours

In the following table, defunct competitions are listed in italics.

Recent seasons

Key

League: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points won; Pos = Final position;

Cup / Europe: PR = Preliminary round; QR = Qualifying round; R1 = First round; R2 = Second round; QF = Quarter-final; SF = Semi-final; RU = Runner-up; W = Competition won;

European competitions

Summary

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 26 July 2012
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.

By season

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
1995–96	UEFA Cup	QR	Slovan Bratislava	0–2	0–4	0–6
1998–99	UEFA Cup	QR2	Anderlecht	3–1	0–2	3–3 (a)
1999–00	UEFA Cup	R1	West Ham United	1–3	0–3	1–6
2000–01	UEFA Cup	R1	Brøndby	0–0	2–1	2–1
		R2	Rapid Wien	2–1	2–0	4–1
		R3	Slavia Prague	2–0	1–5	3–5
2001–02	UEFA Cup	QR	Dinaburg	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
		R1	ND Gorica	1–0	2–1	3–1
		R2	AEK Athens	1–2	2–3	3–5
2006	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R2	Ethnikos Achna	2–2	0–0	2–2 (a)
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	QR1	FC Santa Coloma	3–1	1–0	4–1
		QR2	Kalmar FF	1–3	0–3	1–6

Last updated on 26 July 2012

Player records

• Most appearances in UEFA club competitions: 17 appearances^[2]
  • Bakir Beširević
• Top scorers in UEFA club competitions: 3 goals^[2]
  • Nenad Bjelica
  • Almir Turković

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have:

• Played at least 150 league games for the club;
• Scored at least 50 league goals for the club; or
• Played at least one international match for their national or olympic team while playing for NK Osijek.

Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.

Former managers

incomplete list

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NK Osijek.

• Official website (Croatian)
• NK Osijek profile at UEFA.com
• NK Osijek profile at Sportnet.hr (Croatian)
• NK Osijek profile at Nogometni magazin (Croatian)
• Bijelo-plavi.com unofficial website (Croatian)
• Kohorta.net official supporters' website (Croatian)